Food from our client choice food pantry comes from a lot of different places.
Much of our food is picked up from Operation Food Search on a weekly basis. This organization also offers nutrition, food budgeting classes for our social services clients.
The St. Louis Area Food Bank is a huge food aggregator under Feeding America. Because we’re a ‘Tier 1’ partner of the Food Bank, we’re eligible to purchase food at the lowest price per pound- at pennies on the dollar! They also helps us facilitate relationships with local grocery store chains like Dierbergs, Schnucks, Straubs, and Aldi, who provide us with fresh food items necessary for a full, balanced diet.
For more fresh items, we participate in the Mobile Market (under the Food Bank), where we get about six pallets delivered to us once a month, with perishable foods like apples, onions, potatoes, greens, cheese, etc.
Food from the Scouting for Food Drive accounts for roughly 30 – 40% of the canned goods we use all year long. In the weeks before Thanksgiving, St. Louis Area Boy Scouts go into local neighborhoods to put grocery bags on everyone’s doorknob, ask them to fill it with food, and return the next week to bring to the Food Bank. We get about six pallets of food weighing about 1,000 lbs each.
In addition to these organizations, we receive food from drives from small parishes, schools and other local organizations who’ve supported us for years. With all these organizations working together as a community, we’re able to feed our hungry families and individuals across South St. Louis City.
